Gardens - Tokyo Intro: Experience #10 of 55

May 20, 2020

Gardens - Tokyo Intro: Experience #10 of 55

There are many beautiful gardens in Tokyo. Despite the density of urban development, there are some very impressive green spaces. Crowded times for gardens are in the spring for cherry blossoms and in the fall for autumn colour, but the parks and gardens are always popular spots. When touring around, remember gardens, temples, and museums open early - shopping and other attractions open later.

The parks listed below are just a few favorites out of many parks.

The wild forest around Meiji Shrine near Harajuku is fascinating as it was planned. This mature forest is just over a hundred years old, and has an amazing biodiversity in plants, animals, insects, and even fish. It is like the diversity found in a natural, Japanese woodland forest. The forest is off limits to visitors, but you walk through parts of it on the paths to and from the shrine.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. This is a beautiful park that has some fantastic gardens and great landscapes. There are flower exhibitions and many little pavilions, lakes, and paths. The park was featured in the anime Garden of Words and is a very popular spot. If you are only going to visit one garden, visit here.
Koishikawa Korakuen Garden. This is more of a traditional Japanese Garden, with great fall colors. Very scenic and tranquil in the mornings. It is by Tokyo Dome and you could visit that area afterwards.
Ueno Park. This big park has several lakes in it along with shrines and temples. It is a popular spot to visit because of the zoo and the many museums around it. There is a very nice Starbucks in the park here, and lots of water lilies if you time the season right.
Imperial Palace - East Gardens + Fortifications. A sprawling set of grounds that you can enter for free and it tends to have large crowds of visitors on nice days. You have to queue to go through security (bag check), but the lines move pretty fast. There is a large Tokyo Metropolitan Police and security presence at the entrance for crowd control and to keep the imperial family safe. Once you get inside, the crowds do disperse as the park is huge, but there are crowds at the massive foundations of the old castle. The walk in along the canals and fortification walls of the palace are a big feature of the park. There are signs in both English and Japanese with commentary.
If you are making a day trip out to Kamakura, the many shrines and temples there have great gardens too. Kyoto though, is in its own league for temple gardens and zen gardens.